Systems, methods, and devices for controlling transport of ratelessly coded messages

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and devices for controlling transport of ratelessly coded messages are disclosed herein. User equipment (UE) may be configured to receive a data object using a plurality of radios having distinct radio protocols. The data object may divided into a plurality of segments, and the segments may be encoded with a random linear network code before transmission. The random linear network code may permit the UE to reassemble each segment from any large enough set of encoded packets. The UE may use delivery control messages with very low overhead to control the flow of packets for each radio. The UE may control the number of packets received for each segment without specifying which particular packets should be sent. The transmitters may transmit the packets with very little overhead, and encoding information for the packets may be included in the packets in a compact form.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 61/909,938, filed Nov. 27, 2013, which is herebyincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a protocol for controlling transportof ratelessly coded messages and to a protocol for encoding messages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for transmitting a data objectto a UE using a plurality of radios.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a UE configured to receive a dataobject using a plurality of radios.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a transmitter configured to transmit astream of encoded packets to a UE.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a data object divided into a pluralityof segments and source blocks.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a packet containing an encoded payloadfor delivery to a UE.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method for controlling the flow of encodedpackets from one or more transmitters.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method for delivering packets to a UEbased on instructions from the UE.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a UE able to receive streaming data viamultiple radios.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards andprotocols to transmit data between a base station and a wirelesscommunication device. Wireless communication system standards andprotocols can include, for example, the 3rd Generation PartnershipProject (3GPP) long term evolution (LTE); the Institute of Electricaland Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard, which is commonlyknown to industry groups as worldwide interoperability for microwaveaccess (WiMAX); and the IEEE 802.11 standard, which is commonly known toindustry groups as Wi-Fi. In 3GPP radio access networks (RANs) in LTEsystems, a base station may include Evolved Universal Terrestrial RadioAccess Network (E-UTRAN) Node Bs (also commonly denoted as evolved NodeBs, enhanced Node Bs, eNodeBs, or eNBs) and/or Radio Network Controllers(RNCs) in an E-UTRAN, which communicate with a wireless communicationdevice, known as user equipment (UE). An evolved packet core (EPC) maycommunicatively couple the E-UTRAN to an external network, such as theInternet. LTE networks include radio access technology and core radionetwork architecture that provide high data rate, low latency, packetoptimization, and improved system capacity and coverage. In LTEnetworks, an E-UTRAN may include a plurality of eNodeBs and maycommunicate with a plurality of UEs.

UEs may be communicatively coupled to the Internet via a plurality ofradios, and each radio may be using a distinct radio protocol. Forexample, a UE may be simultaneously connected to the Internet via theE-UTRAN according to the LTE protocol and via a Wi-Fi base stationaccording to the 802.11 protocol. In alternate embodiments, the UE maybe coupled by one or more wired connections. The UE may be able tostream data from a source server using the plurality of radios, whichmay allow for faster downloading than if the radios were usedseparately. Traditionally, the UE would have to coordinate which packetswere received by each radio to prevent duplicate packets being received.The UE may be required to use significant processing and communicationoverhead to track which packets were received and to delegate not yetreceived packets among the radios.

A linear network code may be used to encode packets prior totransmission to the UE. The linear network code may be a random linearnetwork code, a fountain code, and/or the like. A random linear networkcode may allow a segment of data to be decoded from any large enough setof received packets without the particular packets received and/or lostbeing important. Encoding the packets prior to transmission to eachradio of the UE may obviate the need to coordinate which packets aretransmitted. As long as each transmitter is sending distinct packets,the UE only needs to ensure that it received enough packets to decodethe data segment. Thus, the UE may save processing and/or communicationresources if the transmitters use random linear network codes. Initialseeds used by each transmitter for the random linear network code may bedetermined randomly to attempt to avoid the transmission of identicalpackets.

The UE may use a lightweight protocol for controlling transmission ofpackets by the transmitters. The lightweight protocol may include onlythree types of messages from transmission from the UE to thetransmitters: transmission control messages, semi-termination messages(e.g., segment completion messages), and termination messages (e.g.,connection termination messages). The UE may transmit transmissioncontrol messages to each transmitter to instruct the transmitters as towhat should be transmitted. For example, a transmission control messagemay indicate the maximum number of packets that should be sent, fromwhich segment the packets should be derived, how the packets should beencoded, a sequence number identifying the order in which thetransmission control messages were transmitted, and/or the like. Thesequence number can be generated with the status of the decoder in thereceiver. By specifying in advance the maximum number of packets, the UEmay avoid having large numbers of packets en route when it decides thatno more packets are needed and may thus reduce bandwidth usage. Thetransmitters may be able to send packets from more than one segment atthe same time. Accordingly, the UE may send a plurality of transmissioncontrol messages that specify a plurality of segments from which packetsshould be derived. Different transmitters may send packets derived fromdifferent segments and/or derived from the same segments.

Once the UE has received sufficient packets to decode a segment, it maysend a semi-termination message indicating that no additional packetsderived from that segment should be transmitted. For example, atransmitter may not have reached the maximum number of packets specifiedin the transmission control message when the UE is able to decode thesegment, so the UE may send the semi-termination message to prevent thetransmitter from using additional resources by continuing to transmitpackets until the maximum number is reached. The transmitter maycontinue transmitting packets for any other segments when thesemi-termination message is received. If the UE is unable to decode thesegment but all transmitters have reached the maximum number of packetsto be transmitted, the UE may send one or more additional transmissioncontrol messages to the transmitter(s). Based on the sequence numbers ofthe transmission control messages, the transmitter(s) may determine themost recent transmission control message and thereby resolve conflictsbetween multiple received messages. Accordingly, the UE may also be ableto send transmission control messages even before the transmitters havetransmitted the maximum number previously specified.

When the UE is able to decode all segments and/or no longer wishes toreceive packets from a transmitter, the UE may transmit a terminationmessage. The transmitter may cease transmission of all packets from anyof the segments in response to the termination message. Because the UEsends a limited number of feedback messages and each feedback messageincludes few parameters, the processing and communication overhead ofthe UE may be reduced. For example, the UE does not need to send anacknowledgement for every packet received, or even any packet received,so the overhead will be much lower than in schemes whereacknowledgements are required. In some embodiments, only two to threeresponse packets per transmitter will be needed for each segmentdecoded.

The transmitters may also require little overhead for theirtransmissions to the UE. At least one transmitter may initially transmitan indication of the size of a data object to be transmitted (e.g., adata file, a streaming file, etc.). The transmitters may be configuredto break the data object up into a plurality of segments and eachsegment into a plurality of source blocks. The source blocks may equalthe size of the payload for the packets in some embodiments. The segmentand/or source block size may be predetermined, so the UE may be able tocompute the number of segments, the size of a last segment, the size ofa last source block, and/or the like from the size of the data object.Accordingly, little other information may need to be sent for the UE tobegin determining which segments to request.

Each packet sent by the transmitters may include a segment indexindicative of a segment from which the packet was derived. The UE mayuse the segment index to determine which segment each packet should beassociated with for decoding. In an embodiment, the segment index may beonly two bytes. Each packet may also include an encoding indicatorindicative of the parameters used with the random linear network code toencode the packet payload from the segment. For example, the encodingindicator may be used to determine an initial seed for a pseudorandomnumber generator. The pseudorandom number generator may generate one ormore pseudorandom numbers for the payload of each packet, and one ormore encoding coefficients for each payload may be derived from thecorresponding pseudorandom number(s). The encoding indicators may berandomly selected by the UE and/or by each transmitter so that thetransmitters are unlikely to have identical encoding coefficients fortheir transmitted packets. The packets may not require further overheadfor successful transmission and decoding of packets.

In an embodiment, the pseudorandom number generator may computepseudorandom numbers according to the equation:

x _(k+1)=4x _(k)(1−x _(k)),x _(k)ε(0,1)  (1)

where x_(k+1) is a next pseudorandom number and x_(k) is a previouspseudorandom number. The initial seed for the pseudorandom numbergenerator may be computed from the encoding indicator according to theequation:

$\begin{matrix}{x_{0} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{{\left( {\alpha - M + 1} \right)/\left( {65536 - M} \right)},{\alpha \in \left\lbrack {M,65534} \right\rbrack}} \\{{.9999999},{\alpha = 65535}}\end{matrix} \right.} & (2)\end{matrix}$

where Mε[16,256], x₀ is the initial seed, and α is the encodingindicator. M may be the number of source block per segment. Given thedata delivery is from multiple transmitters to a single receiver, thetransmitters may be required to use the same value for M. The encodingcoefficient for the ith source block in the jth encoded packet may bederived from a corresponding pseudorandom number according to theequation:

β_(i) ^(j)=└256x _(i) ┘,iε[1,256]  (3)

where β_(i) ^(j) is the encoding coefficient for the ith source block inthe jth encoded packet and x_(i) is the ith pseudorandom number. If theencoding indicator is between 0 and M−1, inclusive, the correspondingsource block may be sent without any encoding. Accordingly, if theencoding indicator is known to both the transmitter and the UE, theencoding coefficient(s) for the payload of each packet can be derivedwithout any further communication. In an embodiment, each packet for asegment other than the last segment may include 256 encodingcoefficients, and the number of encoding coefficients for the lastsegment may be adjusted based on its size.

The UE may decode a segment by resolving a decoding matrix. Each elementof the decoding matrix may be calculated based on the pseudorandomnumber generator. In an embodiment, for segments other than the lastsegment, the decoding matrix may be of size 256×256. For the lastsegment, each row vector may include the same number of elements as thenumber of source blocks in the last segment. The recovered segment withthe lowest index should be delivered to the destination operatingsystem, persistent storage device, application, and/or the like.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system 100 for transmitting a dataobject to a UE 120 using a plurality of transmitters 111, 113, 115. TheUE 120 may be wirelessly communicatively coupled to a plurality oftransmitters 111, 113, 115 by a plurality of antennas 112, 114, 116. Asource server 110 may contain a data object that has been requested bythe UE 120. The source server 110 may provide the data object to theplurality of transmitters 111, 113, 115 for delivery to the UE 120 usinga plurality of distinct radio protocols. The source server 110 maycomprise the transmitters 111, 113, 115 in some embodiments, or thetransmitters 111, 113, 115 may be distinct from the source server 110.For example, the transmitters 111, 113, 115 may include routersbelonging to internet service providers, such as the EPC.

The transmitters 111, 113, 115 may deliver packets encoded by a randomlinear network code to the UE 120 using a protocol with low overhead. Inan embodiment, the source server 110 may deliver the data object and/orportions of the data object to the transmitters 111, 113, 115. Thetransmitters 111, 113, 115 may control encoding of segments for deliveryto the UE 120. The transmitters 111, 113, 115 may determine which andhow many packets to transmit based on the feedback received from the UE120. Alternatively, or in addition, the source server 110 may encode thepackets and may determine which packets to transmit based on thefeedback from the UE 120.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a UE 200 configured to receive a dataobject using a plurality of radios 210, 220, 230. Each radio 210, 220,230 may be configured to receive packets from a respective transmitter(not shown) using a radio protocol distinct from the radio protocolsused by the other radios 210, 220, 230. Each radio 210, 220, 230 may becommunicatively coupled to a state machine 215, 225, 235. The statemachines 215, 225, 235 may communicate received packets to a receivebuffer 240. The state machines 215, 225, 235 may also determine whichfeedback control packets to deliver to the transmitters. The statemachines 215, 225, 235 may communicate with the receive buffer 240 todetermine how many packets have been deliver and how many more packetswill be needed in order to decode each segment. Based on the informationprovided by the receive buffer 240, the state machines 215, 225, 235 maydetermine whether to send transmission control messages,semi-termination messages, and/or termination messages to thetransmitters.

The receive buffer 240 may include buffers 241, 243 for each segmentbeing received from the transmitters and/or for already decodedsegments. The receive buffer 240 may monitor how many packets have beenreceived and how many more will be needed to decode the segment. Thereceive buffer 240 may also include codecs 242, 244 for decoding eachsegment. The receive buffer 240 may determine the codecs based on theencoding indicators received from the transmitters. When the receivebuffer 240 has received enough packets for a particular segment, it maydecode the segment. For example, the receive buffer 240 may attempt todecode the segment when a predetermined number of packets have beenreceived. If decoding fails, the receive buffer 240 may wait for and/orrequest additional packets and try again. Alternatively, or in addition,the receive buffer 240 may perform whatever decoding is possible eachtime a new packet is received.

The receive buffer 240 may decode the segment by resolving a matrix forthe segment. Each element in the decoding matrix may be calculated bythe receive buffer based on the pseudorandom numbers generated from theencoding indicators. Once a segment has been decoded or the entire dataobject has been decoded, the receive buffer 240 may use a localcommunication interface 250 to provide the segment and/or data object toan operating system, persistent storage device, application, and/or. Inan embodiment, the receive buffer 240 may deliver a recovered segmentwith a lowest index during decoding.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a transmitter 300 configured totransmit a stream of encoded packets to a UE (not shown). Thetransmitter 300 may include a single radio 310 to transmit the stream ofencoded packets to a corresponding radio (e.g., one of the radios 210,220, 230) of the UE. The radio 310 may be communicatively coupled to astate machine 315. The state machine 315 may keep track of how manypackets have been requested by the UE, which segments the packets havebeen requested from, how many packets have already been sent, and/orwhether a termination message has been received. If the state machine315 determines that more packets should be deliver to the UE, the statemachine 315 may request the packets from a transmit buffer 340 and mayprovide the packets from the transmit buffer 340 to the radio 310.

The transmit buffer 340 may be responsible buffering and encoding thesegments for delivery to the UE. The transmit buffer 340 may receive thedata object to be transferred via a local communication interface 350.The transmit buffer 340 may divide the data object into a plurality ofsegments and may store each segment or each segment currently beingtransmitted in its own buffer 341, 343. The transmit buffer 340 maydetermine a codec 342, 344 for each buffer for encoding the segment. Thetransmit buffer 340 may encode the segments using the codec 342, 344 forthat segment. The transmit buffer 340 may determine how many encodedpackets to generate based on instructions received from the statemachine 315. The transmit buffer 340 may have the buffered segments 341,343 ready for additional encoding until a semi-termination message isreceived.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a data object 400 divided into aplurality of segments 410, 420, 430 and source blocks 411, 412, 413.Each transmitter may divide the data object 400 into a plurality ofsegments 410, 420, 430 with predetermined sizes. For example, eachsegment 410, 420, 430 may include a predetermined number of sourceblocks 411, 412, 413 and each source block 411, 412, 413 may be apredetermined size. In the illustrated embodiment, each source block411, 412, 413 is 1024 bytes and each segment contains 64 source blocks.A final source block and/or a final segment may be padded with zeros.The zeros may be used during encoding and decoding but may not beotherwise transmitted to the UE. In an embodiment, the maximum number ofsegments may be 65,536. Each transmitter and the receiver may divide thedata object into the same size segments and source blocks. Accordingly,all that is needed to determine the number of segments and the sizes ofthe last segment and the last source block is the size of the dataobject. The transmitters may know the size of the data object 400because each transmitter may include a copy of the data object 400. Oneor more of the transmitters may indicate the data object size to thereceiver so the receiver knows how many segments are being transmittedand the sizes of the last segment and the last source block.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a packet 500 containing an encodedpayload 506 for delivery to a UE. The packet 500 may be configured tohave very little overhead, so it may only include a segment index 502,an encoding indicator 504, and the encoded payload 506. In someembodiments, the packet 500 may include a sequence number.Alternatively, or in addition, the receiver may use a sequence numberfrom a lower level protocol, such as the user datagram protocol (UDP),to determine which packet is being received. The segment index 502 mayindicate from which segment the encoded payload 506 was derived. Eachtransmitter may be transmitting packets derived from more than onesegment. Accordingly, the segment index 502 may allow the receiver toassociate each received packet with the correct segment. In theillustrated embodiment, the segment index 502 is two bytes and thusallows there to be at most 65536 segments. In other embodiments, thesegment index 502 may be more or fewer bits.

The encoding indicator 504 may allow the receiver to determine one ormore encoding coefficients used to encode the payload 506 in eachpacket. In an embodiment, the encoding indicator 504 may be randomlyselected by each transmitter for each packet being transmitted. Theencoding indicator 504 may be used to determine an initial seed for apseudorandom number generator, for example, according to equation 2.From the initial seed, a plurality of pseudorandom numbers may begenerated, for example, according to equation 1. The pseudorandomnumbers may be used to compute encoding coefficients, for example,according to equation 3. As long as the transmitters and the UE use thesame equations, the encoding coefficients can all be derived from justthe encoding indicator. Thus, the transmitters and receiver may use thesame encoding coefficient for encoding and decoding but, in theillustrated embodiment, only two bytes are needed to convey all theencoding coefficients. In alternate embodiments, the encoding indicatormay comprise more or fewer bits.

The encoded payload 506 may be computed from the segment based on theencoding coefficients. In the illustrated embodiment, the encodedpayload is the same size as the source blocks. In other embodiments, theencoded payload and/or the entire packet 500 may include additionalerror correction bits and thus may be larger than the source blocks. Thepacket 500 may be encapsulated in packets containing additional fieldsby lower layer protocols. The packet 500 may otherwise not require anyfields other than the ones illustrated. Accordingly, the packet 500 mayinclude very little overhead and thus may maximize communicationresources during transmission of the packet 500.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method 600 for controlling the flow ofencoded packets from one or more transmitters. The method 600 may beginby receiving 602 information about a data object to be transmitted froma source. The information about the data object to be transmitted mayinclude a size of the data object, a hash of the object, identificationinformation for the object, identification information for one or moretransmitters, and/or the like. Segment parameters may be determined 604from the received information. For example, the number of segments maybe computed as the ceiling of the size divided by 65536, the number ofsource blocks in the last segment may be computed as the ceiling of thesize divided by 1024 minus 64 times one fewer than the number ofsegments, and the number of bytes in the last source block can becomputed as the remainder of the size divided by 1024.

Once the segment parameters are determined 604, a transmission controlmessage for a first segment may be transmitted 606 to a transmitter. Thetransmission control message may indicate, inter alia, a maximum numberof packets that should be transmitted, the segment for which the packetsshould be transmitted, and/or the like. Additional transmission controlmessage for the first segment may be transmitted 606 to othertransmitters as well. Encoded packets derived from the first segment maybe received 608 in response to the transmission control message.

If the transmitter and/or the receiver have the capacity totransmit/receive packets from additional segments, a transmissioncontrol message for a second segment may be transmitted 610 to thetransmitter. Additional transmission control messages may also orinstead be sent to the other transmitters as well. The transmissioncontrol message may indicate that packets derived from the secondsegment should be sent and may indicate a maximum number of packets thatshould be sent. Encoded packets from the first and second segments maycontinue to be received.

The transmitter may reach the maximum number of packets for the firstsegment and so may stop transmitting packets. However, there may nothave been enough packets received to decode the first segment.Accordingly, another transmission control message for the first segmentmay be transmitted 612 to the transmitter. The transmission controlmessage may again indicate a maximum number of packets to be transmitted612. For example, the number of packets believed necessary forsuccessful decoding may be indicated.

A sufficient number of packets to decode the second segment may bereceived. A semi-termination message for the second segment may betransmitted 614 to the transmitter. The semi-termination may beunderstood by the transmitter to indicate that no additional packets areneeded for the second segment. In some embodiments, the method 600 mayadditionally include determining that the second segment is able to bedecoded before the semi-termination message is transmitted. The secondsegment may then be decoded 616 from the encoded packets that have beenreceived.

A sufficient number of packets may be received to decode the firstsegment. Additionally, all segments may have been received, no moresegments may be needed from this transmitter, and/or the transfer mayhave been aborted. A termination message may be transmitted 618 to thetransmitter. The termination message be understood by the transmitter toindicate that no more packets are needed for any segment. In someembodiments, the method 600 may additionally include determining thatthe first segment is able to be decoded and/or that no additionalpackets are needed before the termination message is transmitted. Thefirst segment may be decoded 620 from the received packets, and thedecoded first and second segments may be provided to operating system,persistent storage device, application, and/or the like. The decodedsegments may be provided all at once and/or as they are decoded.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a method 700 for delivering packets to a UEbased on instructions from the UE. The method 700 may begin withtransmitting 702 information about a data object to the UE. Theinformation about the data object may be transmitted 702 to the UE inresponse to a request for the data object from the UE and/or in responseto a request from a source server to deliver the data object to the UE.The information about the data object may include the size of the dataobject, a hash of the data object, identification information for thedata object, and/or the like. In response, a transmission controlmessage may be received 704 from the UE. The transmission controlmessage may include a maximum number of packets to transmit, a segmentfrom which the packets should be derived, and/or the like.

Based on the transmission control message, a segment may be selected andan encoding indicator for a packet derived from the segment may bedetermined 706. The encoding indicator may be determined 706 by randomlyselecting a number between, for example, 0 and 65535, inclusive. Sourceblocks from the data object may be encoded 708 into packets. The sourceblocks may be derived from the segment specified in the transmissioncontrol message. Encoding coefficients for the source blocks may bedetermined from the encoding indicator. For example, the encodingindicator may be used to determine an initial seed for a pseudorandomnumber generator. The pseudorandom number generator may produce aplurality of pseudorandom numbers from which a corresponding pluralityof encoding coefficients may be derived. A predetermined number ofencoding coefficients may be used to encode each the payload for eachpacket. The encoded packet may be transmitted 710 to the UE. The encodedpacket may include a segment index, an encoding indicator, an encodedpayload, and/or the like. Additional encoding indicators may bedetermined 706, additional packets encoded 708, and additional packetstransmitted 710 until the maximum number of packets have beentransmitted and/or a semi-termination or termination message has beenreceived.

The maximum number of packets for the segment may be transmitted, butthe UE may need additional packets to decode the segment. Accordingly,an additional transmission control message may be received 712 from theUE. The additional transmission control message may specify the numberof additional packets that the UE would like transmitted (e.g., thenumber of additional packets the UE will need transmitted in order todecode the segment). In response, an additional packet may be encoded714 from the source blocks, which may include selecting an additionalencoding indicator for the additional packet. The additional encodedpacket may be transmitted 716 to the UE. Additional packets may continueto be encoded 714 and transmitted 716 to the UE until the maximum numberof additional packets have been transmitted and/or a semi-termination ortermination message has been received.

In the illustrated embodiment, the UE may receive enough packets todecode the segment before the maximum number of additional packets havebeen transmitted. Accordingly, a semi-termination message may bereceived 718 from the UE. The semi-termination may indicate that no morepackets are needed to decode the segment. In response, transmission ofencoded data blocks may be ceased 720 even if the maximum number ofadditional packets have not been transmitted. In some embodiments, theUE may transmit semi-termination messages even if the maximum number ofadditional packets have been transmitted, for example, so a transmissionbuffer can be cleared of unnecessary segments and/or codecs. Ifadditional segments are being encoded and transmitted, the transmissionof those segments may continue even though transmission of the packetspecified in the semi-termination message has been stopped.

A termination message may eventually be received 722 from the UE. Thetermination message may indicate that transmission of all segmentsshould be stopped. In response, transmission of all segments may bestopped and, in some embodiments, the connection with the UE may beended 724. Any remaining segments and/or codecs in the transmissionbuffer may be removed and/or the data object be deleted. Alternatively,or in addition, the data object and/or some segments and/or codecs maybe maintained for delivery to other UEs.

FIG. 8 is an example illustration of a mobile device, such as a userequipment (UE), a mobile station (MS), a mobile wireless device, amobile communication device, a tablet, a handset, or another type ofwireless communication device. The mobile device can include one or moreantennas configured to communicate with a transmission station, such asa base station (BS), an eNB, a base band unit (BBU), a remote radio head(RRH), a remote radio equipment (RRE), a relay station (RS), a radioequipment (RE), or another type of wireless wide area network (WWAN)access point. The mobile device can be configured to communicate usingat least one wireless communication standard, including 3GPP LTE, WiMAX,high speed packet access (HSPA), Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi. The mobile devicecan communicate using separate antennas for each wireless communicationstandard or shared antennas for multiple wireless communicationstandards. The mobile device can communicate in a wireless local areanetwork (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN), and/or a WWAN.

FIG. 8 also provides an illustration of a microphone and one or morespeakers that can be used for audio input and output from the mobiledevice. The display screen may be a liquid crystal display (LCD) screenor other type of display screen, such as an organic light emitting diode(OLED) display. The display screen can be configured as a touch screen.The touch screen may use capacitive, resistive, or another type of touchscreen technology. An application processor and a graphics processor canbe coupled to internal memory to provide processing and displaycapabilities. A non-volatile memory port can also be used to providedata input/output options to a user. The non-volatile memory port mayalso be used to expand the memory capabilities of the mobile device. Akeyboard may be integrated with the mobile device or wirelesslyconnected to the mobile device to provide additional user input. Avirtual keyboard may also be provided using the touch screen.

Examples

The following examples pertain to further embodiments:

Example 1 is a UE configured to communicate with a plurality oftransceivers using a plurality of distinct radio protocols. The UEincludes a processor. The processor is configured to transmit a requestfor a first plurality of packets from a first transceiver over a firstradio protocol and a request for a second plurality of packets from asecond transceiver over a second radio protocol. The first and secondplurality of packets are derived from a current segment of a dataobject. The processor is also configured to receive at least a portionof the first plurality of packets and at least a portion of the secondplurality of packets. The first transceiver encodes the portion of thefirst plurality of packets using a linear network code, and the secondtransceiver encodes the portion of the second plurality of packets usingthe linear network code. The processor is also configured to transmit asemi-termination message to the first transceiver. The semi-terminationmessage requests the first transceiver cease transmission of packetsderived from the current segment. The processor is also configured toreceive additional packets derived from another segment from the firsttransceiver.

In Example 2, the processor of Example 1 is configured to transmit therequest for the first plurality of packets by transmitting atransmission control message indicating a maximum number of packets totransmit from the current segment. The first transceiver determineswhich packets to transmit.

In Example 3, the transmission control message of any of Examples 1-2includes a sequence number indicating an order of transmission.

In Example 4, the processor of any of Examples 1-3 is configured toinitially receive an indication of a size of the data object.

In Example 5, the processor of any of Examples 1-4 is configured tocompute a number of segments, a size of a last segment, and a size of alast source block from the size of the data object.

In Example 6, each packet of any of Examples 1-5 includes an encodingindicator indicative of parameters of the linear network code.

In Example 7, the encoding indicator of any of Examples 1-6 is randomlyselected by each transceiver for each packet being transmitted.

In Example 8, the UE of any of Examples 1-7 includes a local transceiverincluding transmitter and receiver components, multiple antennas, inwhich a first antenna of the multiple antennas is coupled to thetransmitter, and in which a second antenna of the multiple antennas iscoupled to the receiver, a display touchscreen, and a keyboard.

Example 9 is a method for transmitting packets from a base station to amobile communication device that is receiving data using a plurality ofdistinct radio protocols. The method includes receiving a plurality oftransmission control messages from the mobile communication device. Theplurality of transmission control messages include a first transmissioncontrol message requesting a first quantity of packets be transmittedfrom a first segment of a data object and a second transmission controlmessage requesting a second quantity of packets be transmitted from asecond segment of the data object. The method also includes transmittingat least a portion of the first quantity of packets and at least aportion of the second quantity of packets. The portion of the firstquantity of packets is encoded using a fountain code, and the portion ofthe second quantity of packets is encoded using the fountain code. Themethod also includes receiving a segment completion message from themobile communication device. The segment completion message requests astop to transmission of packets from the first segment but continuationof transmission of packets from the second segment.

In Example 10, the method of Example 9 includes receiving a terminationmessage requesting an end to transmission of all packets.

In Example 11, the transmission of packets related to the data object inany of Examples 9-10 is controlled using solely transmission controlmessages, segment completion messages, and termination messages.

In Example 12, each of the plurality of transmission control messages ofany of Examples 9-11 include a sequence number indicating an order oftransmission.

In Example 13, each packet of any of Examples 9-12 includes a segmentindex indicative of a segment from which the packet was derived.

In Example 14, each packet of any of Examples 9-13 includes an encodingindicator indicative of parameters of the fountain code.

In Example 15, the method of any of Examples 9-14 includes generating aplurality of pseudorandom numbers by using the encoding indicator todetermine an initial seed for a pseudorandom number generator. Themethod also includes computing one or more encoding coefficients for apayload of each packet based on a corresponding one or more of theplurality of pseudorandom numbers.

In Example 16, generating of the plurality of pseudorandom numbers ofany of Examples 9-14 includes generating the plurality of pseudorandomnumbers according to the equation x_(k+1)=4x_(k)(1−x_(k)), x_(k)ε(0,1),where x_(k+1) is a next pseudorandom number and x_(k) is a previouspseudorandom number. An initial seed is computed from the encodingindicator according to the equation

$x_{0} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{{\left( {\alpha - M + 1} \right)/\left( {65536 - M} \right)},{\alpha \in \left\lbrack {M,65534} \right\rbrack}} \\{{.9999999},{\alpha = 65535}}\end{matrix} \right.$

where M is a number of blocks per segment, x₀ is the initial seed, and αis the encoding indicator.

Example 17 is a UE for receiving packets from a plurality oftransceivers using a plurality of distinct radio protocols. The UEincludes a first radio operating according to a first radio protocol.The first radio is configured to receive a first plurality of streams ofpackets from a first transceiver. The first plurality of streams arederived from a data file. The UE includes a second radio operatingaccording to a second radio protocol. The second radio is configured toreceive a second plurality of streams of packets from a secondtransceiver. Each stream is derived from a unique segment of the datafile. Each stream is encoded using a linear network code. The secondradio is also configured to transmit a stream termination message to thesecond transceiver. The stream termination message identifies a streamfrom the second plurality of streams. The second radio is alsoconfigured to receive one or more streams from the second plurality ofstreams without receiving the stream identified in the streamtermination message after transmitting the stream termination message.

In Example 18, the second radio of Example 17 is further configured toinitially transmit a plurality of transmission control messagesidentifying the second plurality of streams for transmission.

In Example 19, each of the plurality of transmission control messages ofany of Examples 17-18 indicates a maximum number of packets to betransmitted in a corresponding stream.

In Example 20, the second radio of any of Examples 17-19 is configuredto transmit a connection termination message requesting the secondtransceiver stop transmission of all packets.

In Example 21, the transmission of packets related to the data file fromthe first and second transceivers in any of Examples 17-20 is controlledusing solely transmission control messages, stream termination messages,and connection termination messages.

In Example 22, each packet of any of Examples 17-21 includes a segmentindex indicative of a segment from which the packet was derived.

In Example 23, each packet of any of Examples 17-22 includes an encodingindicator from which one or more encoding coefficients for the packetcan be derived. The encoding indicator is randomly selected.

In Example 24, the linear network code of any of Examples 17-23 is arandom linear network code.

Example 25 is a method for communicating with a plurality oftransceivers using a plurality of distinct radio protocols. The methodincludes transmitting, from a UE, a request for a first plurality ofpackets from a first transceiver over a first radio protocol and arequest for a second plurality of packets from a second transceiver overa second radio protocol. The first and second plurality of packets arederived from a current segment of a data object. The method alsoincludes receiving at least a portion of the first plurality of packetsand at least a portion of the second plurality of packets. The firsttransceiver encodes the portion of the first plurality of packets usinga linear network code and the second transceiver encodes the portion ofthe second plurality of packets using the linear network code. Themethod also includes transmitting a semi-termination message to thefirst transceiver. The semi-termination message requests the firsttransceiver cease transmission of packets derived from the currentsegment. The method also includes receiving additional packets derivedfrom another segment from the first transceiver.

In Example 26, the transmitting of the request for the first pluralityof packets of Example 25 includes transmitting a transmission controlmessage indicating a maximum number of packets to transmit from thecurrent segment. The first transceiver determines which packets totransmit.

In Example 27, the transmission control message of any of Examples 25-26includes a sequence number indicating an order of transmission.

In Example 28, the transmission of packets related to the data objectfrom the transceiver in any of Examples 25-27 is controlled using solelytransmission control messages, semi-termination messages, andtermination messages.

In Example 29, the method of any of Examples 25-28 includes initiallyreceiving an indication of a size of the data object.

In Example 30, the method of any of Examples 25-29 includes computing anumber of segments, a size of a last segment, and a size of a lastsource block from the size of the data object.

In Example 31, each packet of any of Examples 25-30 includes a segmentindex indicative of a segment from which the packet was derived.

In Example 32, each packet of any of Examples 25-31 includes an encodingindicator indicative of parameters of the linear network code.

In Example 33, the encoding indicator of any of Examples 25-32 israndomly selected by each transceiver for each packet being transmitted.

In Example 34, the method of any of Examples 25-33 includes generating aplurality of pseudorandom numbers. The method includes computing one ormore encoding coefficients for a payload of each packet based on acorresponding one or more of the plurality of pseudorandom numbers.

In Example 35, the method of any of Examples 25-34 includes determiningan initial seed for the pseudorandom number generator based on theencoding indicator.

In Example 36, the generating of the plurality of pseudorandom numbersof any of Examples 25-35 includes generating the plurality ofpseudorandom numbers according to the equation x_(k+1)=4x_(k) (1−x_(k)),x_(k)ε(0,1) where x_(k+1) is a next pseudorandom number and x_(k) is aprevious pseudorandom number. An initial seed is computed from theencoding indicator according to the equation

$x_{0} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{{\left( {\alpha - M + 1} \right)/\left( {65536 - M} \right)},{\alpha \in \left\lbrack {M,65534} \right\rbrack}} \\{{.9999999},{\alpha = 65535}}\end{matrix} \right.$

where M is a number of blocks per segment, x₀ is the initial seed, and ais the encoding indicator.

In Example 37, the linear network code of any of Examples 25-36 is arandom linear network code.

Example 38 is an apparatus including means to perform a method asdescribed in any preceding example.

Example 39 is machine readable storage including machine-readableinstructions, which when executed, implement a method or realize anapparatus as described in any preceding example.

Various techniques, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take theform of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media,such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium, or any other machine-readable storagemedium, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by amachine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus forpracticing the various techniques. In the case of program code executionon programmable computers, the computing device may include a processor,a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile andnon-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device,and at least one output device. The volatile and non-volatile memoryand/or storage elements may be a RAM, an EPROM, a flash drive, anoptical drive, a magnetic hard drive, or another medium for storingelectronic data. The eNB (or other base station) and UE (or other mobilestation) may also include a transceiver component, a counter component,a processing component, and/or a clock component or timer component. Oneor more programs that may implement or utilize the various techniquesdescribed herein may use an application programming interface (API),reusable controls, and the like. Such programs may be implemented in ahigh-level procedural or an object-oriented programming language tocommunicate with a computer system. However, the program(s) may beimplemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case,the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combinedwith hardware implementations.

It should be understood that many of the functional units described inthis specification may be implemented as one or more components, whichis a term used to more particularly emphasize their implementationindependence. For example, a component may be implemented as a hardwarecircuit comprising custom very large scale integration (VLSI) circuitsor gate arrays, off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips,transistors, or other discrete components. A component may also beimplemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmablegate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, orthe like.

Components may also be implemented in software for execution by varioustypes of processors. An identified component of executable code may, forinstance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computerinstructions, which may, for instance, be organized as an object, aprocedure, or a function. Nevertheless, the executables of an identifiedcomponent need not be physically located together, but may comprisedisparate instructions stored in different locations that, when joinedlogically together, comprise the component and achieve the statedpurpose for the component.

Indeed, a component of executable code may be a single instruction, ormany instructions, and may even be distributed over several differentcode segments, among different programs, and across several memorydevices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustratedherein within components, and may be embodied in any suitable form andorganized within any suitable type of data structure. The operationaldata may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed overdifferent locations including over different storage devices, and mayexist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system ornetwork. The components may be passive or active, including agentsoperable to perform desired functions.

Reference throughout this specification to “an example” means that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the example is included in at least one embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Thus, appearances of the phrase “in an example” in variousplaces throughout this specification are not necessarily all referringto the same embodiment.

As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositionalelements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list forconvenience. However, these lists should be construed as though eachmember of the list is individually identified as a separate and uniquemember. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as ade facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based onits presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary.In addition, various embodiments and examples of the present disclosuremay be referred to herein along with alternatives for the variouscomponents thereof. It is understood that such embodiments, examples,and alternatives are not to be construed as de facto equivalents of oneanother, but are to be considered as separate and autonomousrepresentations of the present disclosure.

Although the foregoing has been described in some detail for purposes ofclarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications maybe made without departing from the principles thereof. It should benoted that there are many alternative ways of implementing both theprocesses and apparatuses described herein. Accordingly, the presentembodiments are to be considered illustrative and not restrictive, andthe disclosure is not to be limited to the details given herein, but maybe modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Those having skill in the art will appreciate that many changes may bemade to the details of the above-described embodiments without departingfrom the underlying principles of the disclosure. The scope of thepresent application should, therefore, be determined only by thefollowing claims.

1. User equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a plurality oftransceivers using a plurality of distinct radio protocols, the UEcomprising a processor configured to: transmit a request for a firstplurality of packets from a first transceiver over a first radioprotocol and a request for a second plurality of packets from a secondtransceiver over a second radio protocol, wherein the first and secondplurality of packets are derived from a current segment of a dataobject; receive at least a portion of the first plurality of packets andat least a portion of the second plurality of packets, wherein the firsttransceiver encodes the portion of the first plurality of packets usinga linear network code and the second transceiver encodes the portion ofthe second plurality of packets using the linear network code; transmita semi-termination message to the first transceiver, wherein thesemi-termination message requests the first transceiver ceasetransmission of packets derived from the current segment; and receiveadditional packets derived from another segment from the firsttransceiver.
 2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is configuredto transmit the request for the first plurality of packets bytransmitting a transmission control message indicating a maximum numberof packets to transmit from the current segment, and wherein the firsttransceiver determines which packets to transmit.
 3. The UE of claim 2,wherein the transmission control message comprises a sequence numberindicating an order of transmission.
 4. The UE of claim 1, wherein theprocessor is configured to initially receive an indication of a size ofthe data object.
 5. The UE of claim 4, wherein the processor isconfigured to compute a number of segments, a size of a last segment,and a size of a last source block from the size of the data object. 6.The UE of claim 1, wherein each packet includes an encoding indicatorindicative of parameters of the linear network code.
 7. The UE of claim6, wherein the encoding indicator is randomly selected by eachtransceiver for each packet being transmitted.
 8. The UE of claim 1,further comprising: a local transceiver including transmitter andreceiver components; multiple antennas, in which a first antenna of themultiple antennas is coupled to the transmitter, and in which a secondantenna of the multiple antennas is coupled to the receiver; a displaytouchscreen; and a keyboard.
 9. A method for transmitting packets from abase station to a mobile communication device that is receiving datausing a plurality of distinct radio protocols, the method comprising:receiving a plurality of transmission control messages from the mobilecommunication device, wherein the plurality of transmission controlmessages include a first transmission control message requesting a firstquantity of packets be transmitted from a first segment of a data objectand a second transmission control message requesting a second quantityof packets be transmitted from a second segment of the data object;transmitting at least a portion of the first quantity of packets and atleast a portion of the second quantity of packets, wherein the portionof the first quantity of packets is encoded using a fountain code andthe portion of the second quantity of packets is encoded using thefountain code; and receiving a segment completion message from themobile communication device, wherein the segment completion messagerequests a stop to transmission of packets from the first segment butcontinuation of transmission of packets from the second segment.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, further comprising receiving a termination messagerequesting an end to transmission of all packets.
 11. The method ofclaim 10, wherein the transmission of packets related to the data objectis controlled using solely transmission control messages, segmentcompletion messages, and termination messages.
 12. The method of claim9, wherein each of the plurality of transmission control messagesincludes a sequence number indicating an order of transmission.
 13. Themethod of claim 9, wherein each packet includes a segment indexindicative of a segment from which the packet was derived.
 14. Themethod of claim 9, wherein each packet includes an encoding indicatorindicative of parameters of the fountain code.
 15. The method of claim14, further comprising generating a plurality of pseudorandom numbers byusing the encoding indicator to determine an initial seed for apseudorandom number generator, and computing one or more encodingcoefficients for a payload of each packet based on a corresponding oneor more of the plurality of pseudorandom numbers.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein generating the plurality of pseudorandom numberscomprises generating the plurality of pseudorandom numbers according tothe equation:x _(k+1)=4x _(k)(1−x _(k)),x _(k)ε(0,1) wherein x_(k+1) is a nextpseudorandom number and x_(k) is a previous pseudorandom number, andwherein an initial seed is computed from the encoding indicatoraccording to the equation: $x_{0} = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{{\left( {\alpha - M + 1} \right)/\left( {65536 - M} \right)},{\alpha \in \left\lbrack {M,65534} \right\rbrack}} \\{{.9999999},{\alpha = 65535}}\end{matrix} \right.$ wherein M is a number of blocks per segment, x₀ isthe initial seed, and α is the encoding indicator.
 17. User equipment(UE) for receiving packets from a plurality of transceivers using aplurality of distinct radio protocols, the UE comprising: a first radiooperating according to a first radio protocol, the first radioconfigured to: receive a first plurality of streams of packets from afirst transceiver, wherein the first plurality of streams are derivedfrom a data file; a second radio operating according to a second radioprotocol, the second radio configured to: receive a second plurality ofstreams of packets from a second transceiver, wherein each stream isderived from a unique segment of the data file, and wherein each streamis encoded using a linear network code, transmit a stream terminationmessage to the second transceiver, wherein the stream terminationmessage identifies a stream from the second plurality of streams, andafter transmitting the stream termination message, receive one or morestreams from the second plurality of streams without receiving thestream identified in the stream termination message.
 18. The UE of claim17, wherein the second radio is further configured to initially transmita plurality of transmission control messages identifying the secondplurality of streams for transmission.
 19. The UE of claim 18, whereineach of the plurality of transmission control messages indicates amaximum number of packets to be transmitted in a corresponding stream.20. The UE of claim 17, wherein the second radio is configured totransmit a connection termination message requesting the secondtransceiver stop transmission of all packets.
 21. The UE of claim 17,wherein the transmission of packets related to the data file from thefirst and second transceivers is controlled using solely transmissioncontrol messages, stream termination messages, and connectiontermination messages.
 22. The UE of claim 17, wherein each packetincludes a segment index indicative of a segment from which the packetwas derived.
 23. The UE of claim 17, wherein each packet includes anencoding indicator from which one or more encoding coefficients for thepacket can be derived, and wherein the encoding indicator is randomlyselected.
 24. The UE of claim 17, wherein the linear network code is arandom linear network code.